US Patent 7475902 Steering wheel

The steering wheel includes a wheel body and an airbag apparatus disposed on top of a boss. The wheel body is divided into a shaft side division joined to the steering shaft, and a ring side division disposed proximate the ring. The ring side division is rotatable with respect to the shaft side division such that a ring plane is aligned generally vertically. The boss includes an actuator that rotates and moves the ring side division to align the ring plane generally vertically. The actuator completes its operation to align the ring plane generally vertically by the time a driver contacts the inflated airbag in the course of forward motion.